Thursday, April 3…What Does the Fox Say (Ylvis)

   Awake a bit before 7 a.m., up a little after.   The morning was cool enough that a walk around a small mountain in the desert seemed like a good idea. We usually have good intentions of walking early but then dilly dally around until it’s not so early.  Today, we got to it because we knew we’d wanted to get a jump on packing for leaving.

  Decided to walk out by the petroglyphs…in the desert and walking before 9 a.m.  The temperature was in the low 50’s, so just right for walking in the sun. It was amazing how quiet it was…only the sound of our feet crunching against the sand. Well, and one annoying fly. But we soon left the fly behind. It didn’t take long before the birds started chirping. And at that time in the morning the air felt clean and light, not heavy.  Some days as the sun gets higher in the sky, the air can feel heavy, like it has weight to it.   

   Walked farther afield today because we wanted to get more than the 1.3 miles walking around thebase of the mountain gives us. We followed an ORV trail and when we got to a fork in the trail, we went right. The trail followed the inside curve of more small mountains and looped right back to the fork in the trail. At that point we went straight, came out to the ‘road’ and walked the road back to the parking lot.  Voila! A figure eight.

   Kim tracked us on the OnX app but forgot to turn it on right away. The app said that we walked 2.99 miles, but we called it 3 miles because part of our walk didn’t get tracked. Took us almost 2 ½ hours and I think we set a new speed record at 1.3 mph. 😎

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  When OnX tracks our walking speed, it must track only when we’re moving because we spent some time parked in front of some new petroglyphs and we still managed to increase our mph. There are oodles of petroglyphs on the rocks right near the parking area. Back farther where the ORV trail forks, there was another mountain with more petroglyphs. We hadn’t seen these before, so we spent some time looking over the rock surfaces before continuing around a bend. The type of rock changed, and the petroglyphs disappeared.

   Petroglyphs are images which are created by removing part of the rock surface, typically using stone tools to chip, peck or engrave the rock.  They’re thought to be the work of ancient people and there’s no way of knowing exactly what the petroglyphs mean.  They are different than pictographs, which are images painted on the rocks. In this area of the Picacho Mountains, there are supposedly over 4,000 petroglyphs. Not sure what constitutes a single image, though.  Many rocks are covered with images…do all the petroglyphs on a rock count as one or is each image counted separately? Just wondering.

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   Hoping to see more animals active because it was early and cool. We were not disappointed.  Saw a javelina trotting across the trail in front of us. Not quick enough to get a picture when it was in the open and could only watch as it made its way to the left of us, catching glimpses of it between bushes. 

   Then two minutes later, a jack rabbit popped out to sit on the trail. It stayed there long enough for us to register what we were seeing, then it, too, continued on its merry way.  What a sight!! We’re used to seeing little desert cottontails running around our yard…the jack rabbit had a much longer torso, longer legs and longer ears.  And when it took off, what a jump! Saw it pop up above one of the bushes. Great fun to watch but too quick for a picture.

   As we were driving back to the main road, a fox crossed the road in front of us, then trotted toward us along the side of the road. It was on the driver’s side of the truck. Kim backed up to give me a chance at a picture and this time the fox was kind enough to stop at a tree for a photo op. It seemed to want to cross the road again, so it was probably wondering how to get around the big, noisy, silver thing sitting in front of it.    

   It was also a day for seeing hawks…in nests, on top of saguaros, in trees and flying.

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   We decided this morning to leave tomorrow. Black Road has been cleared of debris, and line crews were out later in the day. That was good news! It’ll take 4 or 5 days for us to get home so hopefully the power will be back on by the time we arrive. So, the morning would be for walking and the afternoon would be dedicated to packing. The telescope needed to be taken down, the bed of the truck needed to be emptied and repacked, and there was the inside of the camper to tackle also.  Kim did the truck stuff, I did the camper stuff.

   First, I finished sorting pictures to send to the grandkiddos, addressed and stamped the envelopes and put them in piles to be mailed as we travel back home. Then I turned my attention to other things. Bird feeders came down, were washed and packed away. Dirty clothes were washed so I could use the clothes basket for storing shoes, boots and helmets. Craft stuff packed away…shelves cleared, taken down and stored in the overhead bins…clothes packed in duffle bags to put in truck for overnight stays…and more. 

   Then at 5:30, we met Tammy and her mom up at the clubhouse for some homemade pizza. Tomorrow is Tammy’s last day of working…they may stay until Sunday or Monday as there are things she’d like to show her mom.  But that all depends on the weather, as the only vehicle they have is the three-wheeled Spyder. Well, they could take the bus but that’s a bit cumbersome when sightseeing. On Tuesday they went to get some groceries in Coolidge, Jackie riding on the back of the bike.  They have a loose plan as to where they’re going and for how long, but it sounds like it’s subject to change and It’ll be a grand adventure!

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   Felicia came by earlier today to say good-bye in case we leave before she gets here at nine o’clock. I’m sure we’ll see her tomorrow morning.